POOL Tradeshow Feb 09

Hello everyone. Sorry for the delayed post on our POOL Tradeshow. But wait no more… here are a bunch of pics from our recent showing in Las Vegas.

We had a great time and it was definitely interesting to say the least. Since the bulk of the crew was driving down we decided to head out the day before setup which was Sunday. We woke up early in the morning and headed over to Neil’s house to pick up the booth, shoes and all of our necessities. We got to his place an hour behind schedule (thanks to me, sorry guys) but still was able to get the van packed and ready to go in decent time. Once we got the van packed and said goodbye to Neil, Sharon, Micah and Puddle we were on our way.Our sales manager, Kristina just moved up to the Bay Area so we headed over to pick her up. Dan, JR and I were chopping it up and listening to beats when out of the corner of my eye I see this tumbleweed about half the size of the van slowly bouncing onto the freeway and with perfect timing smashed right into the hood of the rental. With JR screaming like a little girl and Dan praying we don’t die, I tried to avoid it as best as I can but it was no use, the tumbleweed was destined to hit us. We drove about 30 miles with that thing hanging like a ghetto-ass, dried up and oversized hood wreath. When we finally got to our exit and it gave up and let go. We were actually kind of sad to see it go as we wanted to present it to Kristina as a gift. Too bad, maybe next time. Once Kristina loaded up her luggage we were finally on our way. The drive down wasn’t as bad as we all thought. We hit some rain around the Fresno area but once we headed into Bakersfield the clouds cleared up and the sun finally came out. Driving through Tehachapi was beautiful. The mountains were dusted with snow which made the 9 hour drive a bit more tolerable. We were making great time and everyone was in high spirits until we hit State Line and bam… traffic. For those familiar with the drive to Vegas going up the 15 you all know that its a two lane freeway until you get into Vegas, so once there’s an accident they’ll usually close off all the lanes. We sat there for 30 mins and suddenly the length of the drive finally caught up to us. We finally make it into Vegas in the evening and get settled in. We had to get up early in the morning to pick up Neil from the airport and setup at POOL, so we all decide to hang out and chill.

We get up pretty early and half of us pick Neil up while the other half get our badges. When we finally converge and get our stuff unloaded from the van we go straight to setting up. It took us less than an hour to get everything up and going. GREAT JOB GUYS and GAL! A well planned booth alleviates a stressful setup. Once we were finished we decided to do some grocery shopping since the place we’re staying at has a full kitchen setup and ready to use. Since the tradeshow was the next day we decide to be good boys and girls and stay and rest up. I cooked dinner while everyone hung out and chilled. It was a good call to do that as we were able to also have a quick sync up before the week.

The first day of the tradeshow was great! Lots of foot traffic and lots of people to catch up with and talk to. With all that said it was a huge to surprise to us that the whole South Hall of the tradeshow was not being used. All of the booths were in the North Hall this season. The convention was missing all of the banners hanging over the buildings and the show cars and even the fashion show runway in the hall was non-existent. It really was a sign of the times. Even though the show was nearly half empty, everyone’s spirits seemed very high. The way it was setup was actually good for buyers to be able to reach every corner of the tradeshow. Foot traffic wasn’t as good the following days but overall the good vibes everywhere kept things moving.

When all was said and done I say that we had a pretty good show. Despite the drop in attendees I felt that everyone was optimistic of the future and seasons to come. You can really tell that the attendees this season were the people who have their hearts in it. Even though the 3 story booths, the glitz and glam has somewhat subsided you find that the brands here are serious about getting business done and that’s what’s most important. Thanks to everyone and we’ll see you all very soon.

The tumbleweed